


never let it end

by yeswayappianway



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 17:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13956720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/pseuds/yeswayappianway
Summary: Nick tries to keep up the angry expression, but it doesn’t go very well. He puts his head back down on the table. “Fine, but I do hate having to keep that store open. Why can’t we just run the real store?” he whines.Nick feels Sergei’s hand on his head, gently smoothing down his hair. “Because we have to stay quiet. Also, because I ask you to.” Nick raises his head just in time to see Sergei walk out to the main counter.“You’re lucky I love you!” he calls.





	never let it end

**Author's Note:**

  * For [couldaughter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/couldaughter/gifts).



> written for the prompt of "they both run a holistic nonsense shop with a secret Actual Magic side business," which i LOVED. i hope you enjoy!
> 
> (title from Sunny Day Records, by Babbling April)
> 
> thank you to Dell for the beta!!!

“I’ve heard such great things about this place,” the blond woman gushes.

Her friend nods, her red hair bouncing around her face, and says, “Isn’t it quaint? This whole area is just _adorable_.”

Nick sighs internally, but leans on the counter, and smiles. “Hello, welcome! Can I help you find anything today?”

The redhead tugs her friend over to the counter, and she flashes (very, very white) teeth. “Hi! I was in here the other day, looking for medicinal soaps, and it was _such_ a lovely experience, I just _had_ to bring Erica along.”

“Glad to hear it! We always love when people spread the word about us,” Nick says. Yeah, he remembers her. She’d spent thirty minutes asking about all the expensive crystals, and then bought one bar of soap. At least now maybe she was bringing in more business.

\-----

Forty minutes later, Nick stalks into the back room, sits down at the table, and immediately collapses onto it. “I hate people,” he mumbles.

“Mmm hmm,” Sergei hums. Nick raises his head and glares at his boyfriend.

“You’re not even listening to me, are you?”

“Sure, I’m listen. Say the same thing everyday, though, so don’t need to.” Now he is actually looking at Nick, a small smile on his face.

Nick tries to keep up the angry expression, but it doesn’t go very well. He puts his head back down on the table. “Fine, but I do hate having to keep that store open. Why can’t we just run the real store?” he whines, already knowing the answer.

Sergei must have stood up, because Nick feels Sergei’s hand on his head, gently smoothing down his hair. “Because we have to stay quiet. Also, because I ask you to.” Nick raises his head just in time to see Sergei walk out to the main counter.

“You’re lucky I love you!” he calls. Nick hears Sergei’s laughter through the curtain separating the rooms, and he smiles.

\-----

“So, how did you hear about this opening?” The kid across the table from them doesn’t seem nervous, at least, but he also doesn’t seem too excited. He hesitates before answering.

“I heard about it through a friend. Or—actually, I met him through an alumni event for my college,” the kid says, looking a little shifty about it. Nick knows why, he’s got his resume sitting right in front of him, but he’s kind of enjoying this.

“Oh, really? Where’d you go?” he asks brightly. Sergei kicks him under the table, but Nick ignores it.

The kid mumbles something. “What was that?” Nick says.

He looks Nick straight in the eye, seemingly having decided it’s worth pissing off a possible employer. “Michigan. Is that a problem?”

Sergei, rolling his eyes, says, “No, Zach, no problem. Nick here is just having fun teasing you.”

Nick turns to him, pouting exaggeratedly. “Bob! Why are you telling him? That ruins the joke.” He turns back to the kid—fine, Zach—and says, a little more seriously. “It is good practice for dealing with customers, though. They’ll ask all kinds of ridiculous questions, and some of them will probably be offensive to anyone with half a brain.”

Zach nods, his face smoothing out to the blank expression he’s had for the whole interview so far.

“If you went to Michigan, and you heard about the job opening from another alumni, let’s see… Jack?” Zach nods again, and Nick relaxes. “Good, that means you know about the other half of the store already, so we don’t need to deal with talking around that.”

Finally, Zach actually looks interested. He leans forward a little, and says, “Yeah, that’s kind of why I ended up going to Michigan. I looked at a few other schools, but I knew Michigan had a—” he pauses, swallows, and keeps going. “Um, a college of magic. It’s hard to ask about that on campus tours, you know?”

Nick does not, in fact, know, having done night classes at a community college, but he can imagine. Sergei takes over asking questions. “Oh, excellent! So you have training already? What kind of magic you learn at Michigan?”

Zach looks a little thrown off, like maybe he’s not used to talking about magic this freely. Nick can sympathize. Before he found the shop, it wasn’t something he talked about outside of hushed whispers or his own home. As he explains what he’d studied in college, Nick realizes that Sergei already has decided to hire Zach. Personally, Nick is looking forward to making someone else take shifts at the front counter.

\-----

Zach’s been working at the store for a few weeks when he finally corners Nick. “Okay, I love working here, it’s great—”

“Yeah?” Nick interrupts. “I couldn’t tell, honestly, since you never smile. Not that I’m complaining, it scares off some of the really terrible customers.”

Zach narrows his eyebrows very slightly. Maybe a centimeter. “First of all, that’s rude. Second of all, how are you still in business if you hate customers so much? Which was kind of my original question. Why is the front store holistic herbal bullshit?”

Nick wags a finger at him. “Language, Zachary.” Zach rolls his eyes. “And two reasons: one, a lot of the stuff we get in for the back store looks like it belongs in a holistic herbal bullshit store, and if it doesn’t, people will still believe it does. Two, the guy Sergei inherited the store from already had it set up that way and he didn’t bother changing it.” Zach actually laughs, and Nick feels a sense of accomplishment. Nick’s already figured out that he doesn’t actually lack emotions, but getting a real reaction out of him has still become one of Nick’s pastimes. It’s probably embarrassing that he’s trying so hard when Zach’s only just out of college, and Nick suddenly remembers Cam’s accusation that ‘you only hired him so you’d have someone to be fatherly to.’ He wasn’t entirely wrong.

He’s distracted from his thoughts when Zach says, a little tentatively, “I was just wondering, because… it seems like maybe you’d rather not deal with that side of the store.”

That’s an understatement. “Yeah,” Nick sighs. “But Sergei has to do all the inventory and ordering and paperwork, and I’m shitty at all that, so someone has to work the counter. And unfortunately, that’s where we get most of our customers. Not most of our money, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, but way more foot traffic.”

“Of course you get more foot traffic out front when the back store is basically a speakeasy,” Zach says, a little incredulously. Nick brightens up.

“There’s an idea! Maybe we can re-theme the back store like a speakeasy! People can give a password and we can hide the door somewhere cool...”

Zach just stares.

“Alright, that’s not the problem, I know.”

Shaking his head, Zach says, “No, the problem is that you don’t ever hire anyone else. I know it’s probably not a super profitable business, and I don’t want to tell you to do something you guys can’t afford, but… maybe if you had a few more people to work out there,” he waves a hand in the direction of the front store, “you could spend more time back here and maybe get more business for the real store, since you said that’s where you make most of your money.”

Nick looks at him. “That’s a really good idea, Zach. Let’s tell Sergei about it this afternoon when he comes in.”

\-----

“Nick? There’s a guy out front who keeps asking for you, he says he wants to buy—honestly, I don’t remember, he rattled off a fancy sounding Latin name, I think?” Seth is one of their new workers, and he’s seemed pretty unflappable so far, so the slight panic in his voice is unexpected. Nick’s about to ask if Seth knows what it sounded like when he hears a familiar voice out front.

“Nevermind,” he tells Seth, and hurries out front. Sure enough, Cam is standing on the other side of the counter, exaggeratedly crossing his arms and making loud disapproving noises.

“What kind of a store are you running here, exactly?” he says, looking down his nose at Nick. Or, he would be, if he wasn’t a solid four inches shorter.

Noticing Seth start to bristle (and isn’t that surprisingly comforting?), Nick glares at his friend. “Knock it off, Cam, you’re scaring my employees. Cam, this is Seth, he works here now, please be nice to him. Seth, this is Cam Atkinson, he’s one of our best customers and you absolutely don’t have to be nice to him at all.”

Cam’s dropped the fake haughtiness, and he reaches out to shake Seth’s hand. Seth still seems kind of on edge, but they shake. Cam says, “Listen, they’ve gotta learn sometime, right?” He seems surprised when Seth actually answers.

“That people are assholes when you work in customer service? I think actual customers have that covered.” Seth’s still annoyed, then. That’s probably good, because Nick was starting to worry that between Zach and Seth, no one was ever going to express a strong opinion again. Cam laughs, and nods.

“Fair enough, I’m sorry, man.”

“If you’re done, come on back,” and Nick gestures toward the doorway. Cam walks around the counter, apologizes to Seth again, and goes into the back hallway.

They pass the door to the workroom, and Cam says, “So, you finally hired new people? About time. I thought you and Bob were gonna work yourselves into a heart attack doing it all yourself.”

Nick opens the door to the back store, and sighs. “Yeah, Zach, the other kid we hired, suggested it when he noticed I, quote, ‘looked like I wanted to die inside every time a customer came in the front door’. So, you know, when even he notices, I guess it really was time to do something about it.”

Cam pats his arm. “Good for you! You deserve to delegate a little.” He seems genuinely pleased, and Nick is left, for the second time today, a little overwhelmed with how much people care about him. It sounds stupid when he thinks about it that way, but whatever. It’s just nice knowing people have his back.

“So, what can we do for you today? Anything exciting?” Nick’s already going over to the back shelves and pulling out the package labeled for Cam. He comes in often enough that they keep a regular pick-up order for him, but he’s usually got something weird that he needs too.

“Yeah, so, I got hired to do a weird vision thing? Like, this lady’s great aunt died, and they know she had a will but they don’t know where she kept it, so they’re hoping I can See where it was last if I go touch her favorite rocking chair. I have to figure out how to adapt a divination ritual to work for the past, so if you have any ideas, I’m all ears.” Nick grins as Cam keeps talking— finally, something fun to work on.

\-----

When Nick comes into the workroom for his lunch break, Zach is staring at the refrigerator. “Food doesn’t just show up if you wish really hard,” says Nick. “I mean, I guess you could Summon it, but I think you’d need to do more than just look longingly at the fridge.”

Zach doesn’t even acknowledge the joke, just asks, “Where the fuck did this article come from?”

Nick peers over his shoulder. The missing dog flyers are pretty self-explanatory, and so is the menu for the Chinese place down the street, so Zach must be talking about—oh. That. “This, my friend,” Nick says grandly, “is the reason I hate working out front.”

Not missing a beat, Zach says, “I thought that was because you hate getting hit on by yoga moms.”

“This is the second reason I hate working out front,” Nick amends. “Did you read it?”

“Oh, I read it,” Zach says apprehensively. “You didn’t, like, meet these people, did you?”

“God, no. Dubi sent it to me, because he’s an ass who likes making fun of me for running a holistic medicine store, and it was so bad I had to print it out.” Speaking of which, Nick can’t remember the last time he’s seen Dubi. He’s pretty sure he’s supposed to be back from visiting Alaska by now, and he was supposed to bring them some supplies for the store. Nick jots down a reminder on a piece of paper, and looks back at Zach, who now seems to be reading the clipping again in disgusted fascination.

“ ‘Most herb stores are herbal’?” Zach asks.

“Most herb stores are herbal, Zachary, an important lesson you should clearly pay attention to,” Nick says, nodding solemnly. 

Zach does smile then, small and genuine. “You look just like Bob when you do that,” he says. “You two are adorable. How’d you end up owning the store anyway?”

First of all, Nick is pretty taken aback that Sergei has any notable mannerisms he could pick up, much less that Zach has noticed it already. Second, he’s not sure if Zach actually meant it when he said it was adorable, but Nick decides to pretend it’s sincere. “The story’s not that exciting, honestly. I moved here a while back, my dad knew someone in the area who needed help expanding his home warding business and I took that job. I came here, to the store, on errands for them a few times and met Sergei, who was working for the previous owner. Then he decided to retire and asked Sergei to take over, and he asked me if I’d own the store with him. And here we are. It wasn’t actually all that long ago, maybe five years?”

Zach’s eyes widen. “Really? I thought you guys had been here way longer than that, it seems like you totally know what you’re doing.” Nick has to laugh.

“Speaking as your boss, yeah, of course we totally know exactly what we’re doing, but—I mean, now, yeah, we pretty much have the hang of most things. But every once in a while, someone comes in and asks to rent a silver plated ceremonial chalice, and when you tell her that you don’t know what she means, she says, ‘well, Richard always had it ready for me,’ and you have to dig through the back cabinets and hope you can find what she’s talking about and also how much she paid to rent it, and then you realize that actually, you have no idea how much you don’t know.”

Zach is still kind of staring, so he jumps when Sergei says, mildly, “Aren’t you out front now?” Zach curses, apologizes, and runs out front, while Sergei looks sternly at Nick. “Don’t distract him, we need him.” Nick just shrugs.

“If someone was out there, they’d have made noise about it.” He remembers something Zach said. “Wait, do I make your expression when I’m saying something full of shit but trying to be serious about it?”

Sergei seems to take a minute, thinking, and then says, “Yes? Not sure, but I think maybe you do. Huh.”

Nick mirrors his expression. “Well, the more you know. I think Zach called us ‘adorable’ specifically, so, I’m glad our teenage employees approve of us.”

“Technically, is twenty, not teenage,” Sergei corrects, but he seems pleased. “And we are adorable,” he confirms, pecking Nick on the cheek before returning to the back store.

\-----

If dealing with customers out front is Nick’s least favorite part of owning the store, his second least favorite is preparing oils. It’s one of their most popular items, kind of a starter kit for various other salves, and unfortunately, getting them ready is really damn tedious. When Seth tentatively sticks his head into the back store, Nick is relieved to get interrupted. Even a problem would be more exciting than this. The little voice in the back of his head that sounds like Sergei reminds him how important the oils are for the store. Nick ignores it, because unlike actual Sergei, it won’t pout at him until he gives in.

“Hey, Seth, what’s up?”

Seth walks all the way in, then, and Nick notices the other two guys trailing behind him. One is a bit taller, though still not Seth’s height, and blond, and the other is a little on the short side, with dark hair. Nick doesn’t know them, and he assumes that’s why Seth is being so reluctant.

“Do you mind if I bring my friends back here? They're cool,” Seth says. Nick decides to pass up the obvious ‘you already did it’ comment, and he figures that ‘they’re cool’ is supposed to mean ‘they know about magic already’.

“Is someone else out front?” Nick asks, a little worried. Seth looks insulted.

“Bob’s out there. Did you really think I would leave the front just abandoned?”

No, Nick didn’t, but ever since they took over the store, he’s gotten a little more prone to worrying about things. Maybe even a lot more prone. It’s fine.

“Alright, sounds good. Yeah, go for it, give them the whole tour.” Nick waves at the other two, and the darker haired one waves back. Seth looks between his friends and Nick, and then notices what he was doing when they walked in.

“Oil bottles? Not that I want to, but isn’t that the kind of work you pass off on your hourly employees?” Seth has a sympathetic expression, and Nick knows for a fact that they have passed it off on him before.

Nick just shrugs. “Someone has to do it, and it might as well be me today.”

The blond guy comes over, looking interested. “Oil bottles?” he asks, and Nick notices he’s got some sort of accent. European, maybe?

Nodding, Nick grabs an empty bottle, going through the process as he explains. “We found a lot of our customers make their own salves, rubs, ointments, but most of them need the same base. So, Sergei had the brilliant idea to make up bottles with an oil and herb starter that will take scents and mixtures well, with enough room left in the bottle that you can just add to it, and a resealable lid so you can mix it in there too. We like to say it’s kind of like buying broth to start a soup instead of boiling down leftovers.” The guy looks really impressed, and Nick— well, as much as he hates making them, he’s proud of Sergei for coming up with the idea, because it’s pretty amazing, if he does say so himself.

“That’s very cool,” Seth’s friend says, and then, “I’m Alex, nice to meet you.”

Nick nods pleasantly. Alex is stupidly pretty and he wonders if there’s anything supernatural about it. You sometimes hear rumors of people with fae ancestry, and Nick’s always though they were nonsense, but he runs a magic shop, so maybe he shouldn’t be such a skeptic. Either way, he’s not gonna ask Alex. “How do you know Seth?”

Pointing back over his shoulder, he says, “Filip and I knew each other from back home in Sweden, we went to school together for a year. When Seth moved here from Nashville, Filip knew I was living in Columbus and told him to get in touch with me so he’d know someone.” Nick remembers now that Seth had moved here from Nashville when his advisor had unexpectedly left, and had finished his degree through online classes. It makes him happy to know Seth has people looking out for him, and that he’s still friends with people back in Nashville. Seth’s always kind of hesitant to talk about it.

“Well, nice to meet you, Alex. Are you actually interested in spellwork, or did Seth just bring you because he wanted to show off his beloved workplace?”

The answer, Nick learned, was both. Filip and Alex both seemed genuinely impressed with the store, and Seth seemed quietly pleased that they approved. Filip was going back to Tennessee soon, but Alex promised to come back and bring some of his friends. It seemed he was well-connected to the community of northern European magic users in the Midwest (not that Nick had known such a thing existed, but it made a certain amount of sense; Sergei certainly had a network of Russians he talked to and called in favors through), and as Nick told Sergei that night, it seemed they might be getting a lot more business soon from that angle.

Sergei laughed. “Sure Alex is very popular with all kind of people.”

No kidding. Nick isn’t exactly insecure but—wow. “Well, if we ever need someone to model something for the store, we know who to ask. Maybe he can just stand around in the front store and attract customers with his presence.” They’re sitting at their table in their dining room, empty dinner plates still in front of them.

“Maybe we arrange him as a display,” Sergei jokes, eyes twinkling.

“Do you actually think we’ll get more business through him? Can one person really have that many connections, especially when he’s, what, 25?” Nick wonders. It’s not like the store is doing badly, and they have enough consistent repeat customers that they’re not usually in danger of closing. But, fuck, it’d be nice to have some actual profit beyond what they really need.

Sergei shrugs, spreading his arms wide. “Maybe? Seems like person who makes friends easy. Plus it’s good to know other people like you,” he adds, and he doesn’t seem bothered, but Nick always wonders if he misses having other Russians around. Nick’s trying to learn the language, but it’s going slowly and he knows it’s not the same.

“Guess we’ll just have to see, then,” Nick declares, standing up and taking their dishes to the sink. “It was nice to meet Seth’s friends.”

Sergei doesn't answer, and when Nick looks at him, he’s laughing behind his hand. Nick raises an eyebrow. 

“You’re good dad, Nick, ask about kids’ friends, meet and approve them, what next? Check school work?” He’s still giggling when he finishes saying that, and Nick wouldn’t have been offended anyway, but that’s too cute to ever be anything but endearing.

Also, “Don’t act like you weren’t giving Zach advice about his love life, I heard you the other day. You’re just as bad,” he accuses playfully, pointing a finger at Sergei across the kitchen.

Sergei accepts it graciously. “We have good kids, respect their parents, work hard.” Nick snorts.

“They respect you, maybe.”

“Don’t snore on checkbook in front of them, then they respect you.”

“It was one time!” Nick groans as Sergei comes up behind him and snakes his arms around Nick’s middle. He's the perfect height to rest his chin on Nick’s shoulder, and that’s exactly what he does, seemingly content to watch Nick do dishes for now.

\-----

He can’t wait to tell Cam about this, Nick thinks as he watches Sergei show their newest hire around the back store. Cam’s been teasing that he’s stealing all the kids for himself and not leaving any for Sergei, but it definitely looks like Sergei’s got one of his own now.

Alex hadn’t been kidding, apparently, because they’ve had a definite increase in customers for the back store, many of whom have said they heard about it from a friend of a friend. They’ve even had a few people stopping by the store while in town temporarily, which means word is spreading further than just the locals. It’s been a good month at the store for them, and Sergei might be a little stressed about the quicker pace that products are moving in and out, but ultimately, it’ll be a good change.

The new kid, whose name is Joonas, had come in with Alex once, and he had noticed the sign out front announcing that they were hiring. They’re experimenting with a few more part-time employees, especially since Nick’s pretty sure that both Zach and Seth will move on to better jobs before too long. Sergei has been saying he wants to wait and see if part-time employees are the best solution, but Nick’s confident.

The bell at the front counter rings. Nick hurries out front. “Hi, how can I help you?” he says, with the best fake cheer he can manage.

Luckily, it’s just customers wanting to pay for a purchase, not asking about Himalayan salt lamps, or whether he would recommend bath salts before or after an afternoon nap, both of which had happened earlier in the day. The couple is refreshingly polite, which Nick thinks almost makes up for the ridiculous decorative plaque they’re buying. It’s got clearly fake seashells glued on to a horribly symmetrical weathered pattern, and it says something about life and living. Nick wishes them a good day, genuinely, and tells them to enjoy their purchase, not so genuinely.

When he goes into the back store again, Sergei is watching as Joonas stands precariously on a stool and stretches an arm up to grab a small box off a top shelf.

“Is that safe?” Nick asks, a little panicked. Sergei waves his question off nonchalantly, while Joonas bobbles a little, seemingly startled.

“Of course, I do it lots,” says Sergei. “Thanks, Joonas, I’ll take that.” Joonas hops off the stool and hands the box to him.

Nick says, a little forcefully, “Just because you do it doesn’t mean it’s safe.” It’s a long-standing argument between the two of them, but Nick’s not particularly concerned with it right now. He looks at Joonas, standing next to Sergei and glancing nervously between them. “How’d you manage to find someone just as tall and gangly as you are?”

Sergei shrugs. “Maybe now we have backup goalie for rec league.” He looks at Joonas. “You don’t play goalie, do you?” 

Joonas looks like he’s not sure if he should really answer, so Nick says, “We really do play on a rec hockey team, but we don’t expect you to play or anything like that, obviously.”

“Uh…” Joonas says, slowly. “I actually do? Play goalie? I used to anyway.”

Nick groans extravagantly and Sergei lights up. “Knew I liked you for a reason,” Sergei says joyfully.

“How did I end up working with _two_ goalies?” Nick moans jokingly, but also— what are the odds? He starts to ask Sergei what else needs to be done in the store before they close that evening, but he sees Sergei’s excitement and knows it’s a lost cause. Usually Nick is the distracted one, but when it comes to hockey, all bets are off.

“Where did you play? When you were kid or more recent?” Sergei asks, looking a little manic. Nick just pats Joonas on the back, and ignores his ‘what have I gotten myself into?’ look in favor of going back out to the front store and hoping no one shows up. He’s not getting in the way of that.

\-----

It’s raining outside. Which, yeah, it’s March in Ohio, that’s normal, but Nick’s supposed to go pick up a new stock of herbs to dry from Ryan. His farm is out in the middle of nowhere, and there’s a long-ass dirt road to get back to the greenhouse, which is totally gonna be one giant mud puddle and Nick just doesn’t want to deal with it today. Clearly Sergei has the same idea, because when Nick finally drags himself out of bed, he’s sitting downstairs drinking tea and wrapped in a giant blanket. It’s the most adorable thing Nick’s ever seen.

“Weren’t you going to go check on something at the store? I thought that was why you got up so early.” Nick’s barely finished the question before Sergei scrunches up his face in annoyance.

“I try. There was accident on 33 and then lots of traffic and then I give up and come home,” Sergei says, and Nick knows what’s coming next. “Why is there no train, subway, anything!”

“Well,” Nick says, as always, “There’s the buses.”

Sergei humphs. “Buses, no, buses not even that good! No good way to get anywhere in this city.”

Nick doesn’t point out that the buses aren’t that bad, or that usually they’re carrying enough boxes or bags or weird shaped packages that public transportation wouldn’t be very good anyway, but he does say, “What, you wanna move back to Philly? They’ve got a pretty good rail system, right?” Sergei shudders, and makes a face.

“Only think it’s good because you never live there. No, it’s fine, I’m just…”

“Grumpy?” Nick offers. Sergei does, in fact, look grumpy, or at least his head does, which is the only part of him sticking out of the blankets besides his hand holding the tea. He seems like he’s going to argue, but then just shrugs, the mass of blankets shifting.

“It’s rain and grey,” he says, in explanation. Or maybe agreement—either way, he’s right.

Nick sighs, looking down at his watch. There’s not a specific time he needs to get to Ryan’s, but he has to go over and pick up wool from Boone afterwards, and it takes a while to drive out there and then probably he should get groceries before they end up eating takeout for the fourth night in a row.

“Need to go out to farms today?” Sergei asks, looking sympathetic. It’s very unfair that Nick has to do anything today, much less go outside in the rain.

“Don’t suppose you wanna go with me? It’d go quicker with two of us, and we could get lunch somewhere fun,” Nick adds, when Sergei doesn’t immediately say no. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to miss another Great Sheep Escape.” Sergei laughs, finally.

“Ok, fine, go with you. But only so I don’t miss any sheep escapes,” he teases. Nick looks back at him, still cozy on their couch.

Slowly, Nick says, “If we’re both going, it’ll go quicker, right? So maybe we don’t need to leave just yet.”

Sergei nods solemnly. “Very true, lots of time to sit here and be warm first. Store energy for outside.”

“Is that how you do it in Russia?” Nick jokes, coming over to join him. Sergei shakes his head, but unwraps the blankets—two, he’s got two of them, no wonder he looks like a lump—to let Nick curl up around him. They rearrange the blankets so they’re both covered, and Sergei looks so contented and pleased that Nick has no choice but to kiss him. He tastes a little like the tea he’s been drinking, and Nick’s just—he’s really happy to be here, in this moment. Even if they have to go outside in the fucking rain later. Sergei will probably grump a little about the mud and Nick will nearly get the truck stuck in the mud like he always does and Ryan will despair about how little they still know about growing the plants they sell, and it’s all kind of perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, "Some herb stores are herbal" is a real quote i found in a real article about real life holistic medicine/herb stores and i laughed about it WAY TOO HARD not to include it here (we couldn't decide if it was more along the lines of 'life needs things to live' or 'sometimes things that are more expensive... are worse' but either way).
> 
> what zach is not saying when he says nick's least favorite part about working out front is yoga moms flirting with him, is that zach's pretty ok with that part.
> 
> at some point, i'll stop making fun of zach for michigan, but listen i get suspicious looks when i wear plain blue clothes around the osu/michigan game, so i'm just being realistic. or something.
> 
> come talk to me at steelinstories on twitter or topcopbobrovsky on tumblr about these nerds


End file.
